By Matters India Reporter
Thiruvananthapuram: A court in Kerala on December 22 found a Catholic priest and a nun guilty of murdering Sister Abhaya 28 years ago.
The Special Court of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, found Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty of murdering the 19-year-old nun.
The details of the court verdict will be known after the full copy of the judgment is released.
Special CBI Judge K Sanal Kumar, who handed down the guilty verdict, will hear the convicts on the sentence on December 23, reports livelaw.in.
Nine prosecution witnesses in the case had turned hostile during the trial which started in August 2019.
According to the CBI, the accused murdered Sister Abhaya after she happened to witness their intimate exchanges.
Another accused in the case, Father Jose Poothrikkayil, was discharged by the CBI Court in 2019.
Discharging Poothrikkayil, the CBI court held that the prosecution had failed to bring out sufficient material to proceed against him. Challenging the CBI Court decision discharging Poothrikkayil in the case, a plea was led in the High Court, which also rejected it.
But the court had rejected the discharge pleas of Kottoor and Sephy observing that there were sufficient grounds for prima facie presuming that the two had committed offences punishable under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destroying evidences) read with section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The dismissal of their discharge petitions was approved by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
K T Michael, a former officer of the Kerala police special branch, who was accused of destruction of evidence, was also discharged by the court a year ago.
Earlier this year, the High Court of Kerala ruled that the results of narco-analysis and brain mapping process done on the accused cannot be used in evidence.
In October this year, the High Court directed to expedite the trial by doing it on a day-today basis. A single bench of Justice V G Arun observed that it was “disheartening to note that criminal proceedings pertaining to a crime of 1992 is yet to attain finality, whether it be by reason of providence or design.”
The Court allowed cross-examination of witnesses through video conferencing mode considering the pandemic situation.
Sister Abhaya’s parents passed away four years ago.
Background
Sister Abhaya, who was born Beena Thomas, was a member of St. Joseph’s Congregation under the Kottayam Archdiocese in Kerala.
She was found dead in a water well of St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27 1992.
Investigation into this death is by far the longest running murder investigation in the State of Kerala.
She was aged 18 years then who was studying pre-degree course.
Initially, the case was investigated by the local police and state crime branch which concluded that Abhaya had committed suicide. The CBI, after taking over the case from the local police in 1993, led three closure reports later at different points of time.
In 1996, the CBI led a final report with inconclusive findings as to whether the death of Sister Abhaya was suicidal or homicidal. This closure report was not accepted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court.
After further investigation by another team, a second final report was led in 1999, which concluded that the death was homicidal but could not identify the perpetrators. This report was also not accepted by the Court. In 2005, yet another report was led by the CBI after investigation by another team, which ruled out involvement of other persons in Sister Abhaya’s death
On November 1, 2008, the High Court of Kerala directed the Kochi Unit of the CBI to take over the investigation. By November 19, 2008, the CBI arrested Fathers Thomas Kottoor and Jose Poothrikkayil along with Sister Sephy.
An ‘Action Council’ formed by social activist Jomon Puthenpurackal had led several petitions seeking proper investigation in the case.
In July 2009, the CBI led a chargesheet arraying Father Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy and Father Jose Poothrukkayil as accused for offences of murder and destruction of evidence. As per the report, Sister Abhaya had accidentally intruded upon Sr. Sephy and the other two accused priests in a “compromising position.”
It was further alleged that Sister Sephy, who panicked and, on the spur of the moment, hit Abhaya with an axe meant for chopping firewood. After that, the three accused allegedly dumped Abhaya’s body into the well.
In the trial, Father Thomas Kottoor was represented by Senior Advocate B Raman Pillai, assisted by Advocates Chacko Simon and B Sivadas.
Sister Sephy was represented by Advocates J Jose, Sojan Micheal, Chacko Simon, Bino R Babu, Bimal VS and VS Boban.
The Lord will fight for the weak and the humble! This verdict shows that God merciful but just, no one can escape from His eyes! We the religious are called by Him to serve the humanity not to destroy anyone! Even though the judgement is late it’s an eye opener for us all…We learn to be faithful to our call
This justice has proved that Church is not above the law of the land. At least law of the land could provide the justice to Sister Abhaya after 28 years so that her soul can rest in peace . No crimes can be hidden with the curtain of religion by religious leaders .Church administration need to change its stand and take corrective actions to tackle such crimes and scandals rather trying to hide the truth.
There are many more skeletons in the cupboards of many dioceses and presbyteries and religeous houses – IT IS better that the church addresses these cancers frankly and openly than trying to hide them uder the carpet – the cancer spreads and the damage is great. The sister Abhaya’s verdict is a great relief to all those who tenaciously fought for justice unfortunately her parents are not there to listen to the verdict – they are with sister Abhaya there above
The wheels of God grind slowly but they grind exceedingly small
Without commenting on the judgement, or indeed on the merits of the case, what remains intriguing is the many closure reports filed by local police, and then by the CBI. Their one stumbling block were the men and women who functioned as Metropolitan magistrates n these three decades, and rejected the closure reports. This speaks louder than the allegations of moral turpitude in men and women sworn to celibacy and integrity. I wonder if this will spur introspection in the church, and in civil society, on broader issues of relationship between state and religious leaders at various times in the long political processes that this trial has seen. It must not be said that religious leaders influenced the state to pervert the course of justice, or the reverse, that the state has been vindictive in accusing men and women religious of sexual demeanours and the capital crime of murder. Very complex case for students of religion, politics and society. And valid for many other cases in other states where senior politicians and religious gurus or priests have been involved in crimes of murder or rape.Many of them continue to function with clean chits from sundry courts.
It is probably the first murder case within the church compounds that has reached a logical conclusion, thought 28 years after the murder of Sister Abhaya at the prime age of 22 years.
Now it is the turn for others to be exposed.